Lorenz grau



(No Model.)

L.,.GR U. ERASER.

No. 533,289. Y Patented Jan. 29, 1895.

WITNESSES. lI\I\/ENTUR.

Mrs STATES LORENZ GRAU, OF NUREMBERG, GERMANY.

ERASER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 533,289, dated January 29, 1895.

Application filed January 8, 1894. Serial No. 496,041. (No model.) Patented in Germany June 10, 1892, No. 13,131, and

' September 13. 1892, No. 7,957.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, LORENZ GRAU, a subject of the German Emperor, and a resident of Nuremberg, Germany, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Erasers, of which the following is a specification, and for which Letters Patent have been granted to me in Germany, No. 13,131, dated June 10, 1892, and No. 7,957, dated September 13, 1892.

My invention consists of an improved construction of steel wire erasers in which a large number of fine steel Wires closely confined side by side and projecting from the end of a handle socket and an outer sliding and adjustable socket somewhat in the manner of a brush are disposed in such close proximity and so as to have such united action in support of each other against lateral stress as to enable wiresof such exceeding fine gage as are capable of sharp abrading action to be organized in an efficient ink eraser better adapted for fine work and for rapid action than a single blade, as hereinafter described, reference being made to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1, is a side elevation of my improved 1 ink eraser constructed with an adjustable handle whereby the wires may be confined more or less closely together and the lateral support of the wires may be varied. Fig. 2, is a similar view of the same with the adjustable part of the handle set for shorter projection of the wires from the socket. Fig. 3, is a side view of my improved eraser constructed in double ended non-adjustable form. Fig. 4, is an elevation in edge view, and Fig. 5, is an end View showing more clearly the dense condition of the wires.

In a suitable socket handle as a, preferably flattened at one end as f, or flattened at both ends, I arrange a compact cluster of fine steel wires 0, projecting a suitable distance at one or both ends as preferred, and preferably all terminating at the extremities in a uniform fiat end so that all or nearly all the wires will hear at the end on the surface of the paper when the eraser is held thereon perpendicular to the surface, thus presenting a multitude of ends which in the aggregate will scrape or abrade the surface in a uniform manner instead of making individual creases as a lim* ited number of wires would.

For an adjustable holder I fix the wires 0, in a socket tube d, telescoped in another tube 6, having the flattened endf, projecting beyond the end of tube d, and adapted to slide along the tube at, to vary the extension of the wires beyond the mouth of the part c, and thereby to some extent vary the density of the projecting portions of the wires which spread moreor less according as they project, and also to vary the lateral support of the wires by the socket. This adjusting tube is especially useful inclosing the projecting ends of the wires more together from time to time as they spread apart by use, the tube being shifted each time a little nearer to the ends of the wires.

A set screw 9 in the part c, and screwing into a crease h (dotted in Figs. 1 and 2) se cures the said part c in position and maintains the flattened partf, in the flat plane of the wires.

The handle is head 2'.

Besides being the efficient eraser described, the instrument is also a very effective and desirable cleaner for fine toothed combs.

I am aware that wire brushes are common for various purposes, some of which are made with comparatively stiff wires suitable for cleaning off castings, the stiffness of the individual wires being relied on for resistance to the lateral stress on the wires caused by the friction to which they are subject in use, as in the Patent No. 45,276, and I do not claim such brushes.

My invention is distinguished from such brushes in that very fine wires are used such as will have sharp abrading effect on smooth dense paper surfaces without unduly roughening the same, and these fine wires having but little resistance'to lateral stress are placed and confined in close compact relation, where by they collectively oppose lateral stress such as the individual wires are entirely unequal to resist, and would render the wires wholly useless for erasing purposes if arranged with out regard to such collective support as in wire brushes. For brushing purposes it is provided with a burnishing not desirable, nor is it intended that the wires shall be unyielding to the lateral stress because brushes are to be used on uneven or irregular surfaces for which they would be unsuited unless the wires could yield independently of each other so that some could reach into'the low places, while others more bent and springy were taking effect on the high places of the surface being acted upon. There are therefore two important features of the wire eraser distinguishing it from the brushes: First, the wires are of such fineness that the ends will have sharp abrading effect on smooth fiat paper surfaces, and, second, the fine wires are so compactly placed and confined that the wires taking efi'ect have the collective support of the mass of wires against lateral stress.

I am aware of the German Patent No. 16,401, dated January 9, 1882, in which camels hair paint brushes are shown with a socket extending beyond the socket of the handle in which the hairs are secured, and being adjustable along the hairs for supporting them laterally, and I do not claim such device. My invention is distinguished from such paint brush, first, in being an eraser composed of fine wires having sharp abraiding ends, and second, the part of the handle in which the Wires are confined is about half the length of the projecting portions of the wires, and the sides of said portion are parallel or nearly so, and is only as much larger transversely as the slight thickness of the metal of which it is composed, and the adjustable socket is of like or greater length and fits snugly the whole length of the handle socket, and along the wires also, so that the Wires are firmly confined in this compact condition from their upper extremities to the extremity of the adj ustable socket whereby and because of being composed of steel wires the eraser has abrading effect competent for an eraser, whereas the adjustable socket of the said patent only touching the projecting hairs at its extrem ity and being slack above would not make av -mass the entire length of their projection from the socket, giving collective support of all the wires to those exposed to lateral stress in use, and an exterior longitudinally adjustable flattened socket on the handle and the wires to vary the support of the wires against the lateral stresses, said socket and the handle socket being parallel and closely fitting one within the other in the parts confining the wires and adapted to confine the wires closely the entire length of the wires covered by the sockets, whereby the adjustable socket forms a close fitting extension of the handle socket and limits the spread of the wires practically the same as the handle socket, substantially as described.

Signed at the United States consulate at Nuremberg, Bavaria, this 23d day of December, A. D. 1893.

LORENZ GRAU Witnesses:

OSCAR BOOK, LOROUF. GoJYENER. 

